Matching technology has been around for a while, but with new AI-driven solutions, the interest in AI matching has peaked. As part of the AI in Recruitment podcast series, Recruitment Tech caught up with Jan Govaerts of TheMatchBox for an exclusive, in-depth interview about matching technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
‘I don’t think people understand all the AI flavours’
Belgium-based TheMatchBox has been around for a while within the world of AI and recruitment. But what does the company offer exactly? “TheMatchBox caters to be a good solution that will save recruiters significant time. And in the end, we take care of their boring work and let them do what they’re good at: human interaction. We help recruiters right in speeding up their day-to-day life. We take away the boring work for recruiters by automating a lot of stuff like searching for candidates or matching them with vacancies. There’s a lot of reading work that had to be done in the past.”
It’s not Harry Potter’s magic wand
Artificial Intelligence isn’t new, but according to Govaerts, it’s important to understand all the variations. “AI is actually pretty old already. It just has different forms and formats. You’ve got machine learning, you’ve got generative AI. You have all these flavours and I don’t think people really understand the use of all those different versions. I think that is a problem that needs to be sorted and with an open mind.”
“We use AI, but we keep a very critical eye to make sure we use it in the right place.”
“It’s not a Harry Potter-like magic wand, that you can wave around and all of your problems are gone”, Govaerts laughs. “AI needs to be used in a good, careful way. Because a lot of things can also go wrong. That’s what we’ve focused on with TheMatchBox. We use AI, but we keep a very critical eye to make sure we use it in the right place. But we are constantly innovating, doing research and development, looking at new algorithms.”
‘There’s more to algorithms than just matching’
While algorithms still tend to cause confusion to what it does exactly, for matching purposes its usage is quite simple. “We’ve got I don’t know how many billion people in the world on the planet right now”, Govaerts says. “Everyone is, in a sense, unique. So to have a vacancy and have that match with one of the billions of files is very difficult and challenging. And there is a big margin for error.”
“Everyone is, in a sense, unique. So to have a vacancy and have that match with one of the billions of files is very difficult and challenging.”
“And it’s also a case of not only using algorithms, but pure matching technology that can really weigh off those parameters. Is it a match on functions? Is it a match based on skills and is it a synonym or is it more of a related skill? Or is it like a far-fetched to connection to what’s needed for the job? You can buy everything, but you can’t buy time. So that’s where we say: okay, let us do the dirty work and the boring work. So you don’t you need less recruiters to build a bigger business.”
‘In the last 100 years, most jobs have been replaced’
While AI applications have disrupted the world of recruitment, where does Govaerts think the two are headed? Will it be a happy marriage? “I am actually a historian, so I’m better looking back there, looking forward. I’m not sure what the future’s going to be. I think a lot of there will be a lot of jobs lost. And I think the last hundred year, most jobs have been replaced. I mean, 50 years ago, you had somebody at night walking on the streets, lighting the candles.”
“I think a lot of there will be a lot of jobs lost. And I think the last hundred year, most jobs have been replaced. I mean, 50 years ago, you had somebody at night walking on the streets, lighting the candles.”
“So then they had electricity and now the lights turn on off automatically. It’s all manual labour work that’s been replaced. And now with the AI, it’s the first time that people that go to university, like lawyer solicitors who have to read a lot of documents and interpret law or or regulations, it’s the first time those jobs are being threatened in a way. And that’s a big switch in mentality.”
Think about the impact
Govaerts sees jobs that require people to absorb a lot of information already changing. “I think A.I. in the space of information absorption will will cause a lot of mayhem. But I think, as always, you need to embrace evolution and make the most of it. But we have to stay critical and think about if this is the kind of society you want. Specifically for recruitment, we’re only just getting started. I do see a lot of things arriving that are giving a lot of power to AI tools. And I’m quite worried about the impact. I think all these people need to be carefully thinking about the impact it has on an individual. I’m not the futurologist, but you need to think about whether that is the kind of society we want to live in.”
Listen to the interview
This interview is part of Recruitment Tech’s AI in Recruitment podcast series. Whether you’re a recruiter, HR professional, or simply interested in the future of recruitment technology, ‘AI in recruitment’ is the podcast series for you. Listen to the podcast via Spotify, Apple, Google Podcasts or any other platform.
